Insulated wall panel

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to an insulated wall panel assembled at the factory with a subgirt attached to a liner element fastening to a girt of such construction that the wall panels may be locked together by a plurality of male and female elements thereof extending either at right angles to, or parallel to the wall panels. The subgirt has a guide channel for a slide bar for holding the elements together to prevent horizontal movement or pulling away from the building as the result of negative wind loads.

United States Patent Scott July 25, 1972 [$4] INSULATED WALL PANEL FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS [72] Inv n or: I-hrl y Wexford. P 502,70I 5/1954 Canada ..52/$88 73 Assi nee: Elwin G. Smith It Com Inc. Pittl a bush p Primary Examiner-Alfred C. Perham Attorney-William .I. Ruano [221 Ned: June 3, 1970 2| Appl. No.: 43,000 ABSTRACT This invention relates to an insulated wall panel assembled at [52] US. Cl. ..52/588, 52/478, 52/479 the factory with a subgirt attached to a liner element fastening [51] Int. to a girt of such construction that the wall panels may be [58] Fleldofsemh ..52/536, 588, 478-480, lo ked together by a plurality of male and female elements 52/508 thereof extending either at right angles to, or parallel to the wall panels. The subgirt has a guide channel for a slide bar for [56] and holding the elements together to prevent horizontal move- UNn-ED ATES PATENTS ment or pulling away from the building as the result of negative wind loads. 3,054,482 9/1962 Lassen ..52/479 2.047,l 54 7/l936 Pimsner ..52/588 X 4 China, 5 [having Figures Patented July 25, 1972 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR HARLEY D. SCOTT his ATTORNEY Patented July 25, 1972 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 R 0 T N E v W HARLEY 0. SCOTT his ATTORNEY msura'mo WALL PANEL This invention relates to an insulated wall panel and, more particularly, to one that is factory assembled.

An outstanding disadvantage of insulated wall panels used in the past is that much of the assembly had to be accomplished at the building site, as the result of which greater time for installation was required and often insufficient accuracy was obtained for parts to fit properly, therefore adding considerably to the cost of construction and assembly.

An object of the present invention is to provide a novel factory assembled, insulated wall panel, which is devoid of the abovenamed disadvantages and which may be easily and quickly assembled with accurately fitting parts at the construction site.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a novel factory assembled, insulated wall panel embodying a subgirt having a guide channel, which subgirt enables the parts to be fastened together by a plurality of male and female elements and to be locked together by a horizontally extending slide bar slid in said guide channel so as to resist negative wind loads and the tendency of the wall panels to pull away from the building.

Other objects and advantages will become more apparent from a study of the following description, taken with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. I is a top or plan view of factory assembled, insulated wall panels embodying the present invention wherein the male and female fastening elements are disposed at right angles to the panels;

FIG. IA is an enlarged, fragmentary, horizontal, cross-section of the panels shown in FIG. 1 with parts shown broken away;

FIG. 2 is a modification showing a top view of factory assembled, insulated wall panels wherein the male and female fastening elements are disposed parallel to the panels;

FIG. 2A is an enlarged, fragmentary, horizontal, cross-see tion of the panels shown in FIG. 2 with parts shown broken away; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, exploded top perspective view of one of the joints shown in FIGS. l and 1A.

Referring more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 1A, numeral 1 denotes a horizontally extending girt or frame member of a building or other frame structure to be covered by the insulated wall panels of the present invention.

As shown more clearly in FIG. 1A, a sheet metal liner element 2 is flanged at one end to provide a rib 3 covered with a vinyl gasket to form a male element which extends at right angles to the liner element and to the medial plane of the panel. The other end of the liner element 2 is flanged to provide a female element 4, also at right angles to said medial plane, into which the male element 3 of an adjoining panel will be inserted and tightly fitted as the panel is pushed toward the girt l.

A self-tappping screw 5, preferably with a steel washer, is used to fasten one end of the liner element 2 in place while an adjoining panel is laid thereagainst in a manner so as to cause a female element 4 to be inserted over a male element 3.

A subgirt ll of sheet metal or other suitable material is spaced from the liner element 2 to provide a space for insulation to be inserted therebetween. The subgirt is bent inwardly along its end portion in a manner shown more clearly in FIGS. 3 and 1A and is attached to the liner element 2 and girt l by self tapping screws 5 and 13 (see FIG. I). it should be noted in FIG. 3 that although the male element 3 and female element 4 are shown horizontally as separated, for purpose of clarity, that they are actually interfitted in the manner shown in FIGS. 1 and IA when assembled.

The subgirt 11 is formed so as to provide a guide channel [2 through which a slide bar 16 is adapted to slide for joining adjacent subgirts together.

An exterior panel 6 of any desired design or shape is bent at one end to form a female rib 9 and is bent at the other end to form a male rib 10. A clip 8 is fastened by self tapping screw 7 to the subgirt 11, into which clip, a male end portion 10 of exterior panel 6 is adapted to tightly engage to form ajoint.

In operation, the panels are installed in such a manner that there will be action in two different directions. A first panel is attached to the wall by a self tapping screw 5, then the second panel end portion is laid directly over the first panel end portion causing the perpendicular male and female portions 3 and 4, respectively, of the liner, and female and male portions, 9 and 10, respectively, of the exterior panel 6 to join. After assembly of adjoining panels, the sliding bar 16 is horizontally slid in the interior of channel 12 of the subgirt so as to lock the panels against horizontal movement or pulling away from the building, therefore resisting negative wind loads.

FIGS. 2 and 2A show a modification of the invention which is very similar to the construction shown in FIG. 1 except that the male and female elements of the liner and exterior panel extend parallel to, instead of at right angles to, the panels. More specifically, on the horizontal girt l are mounted, by self tapping screws 5, the liner element 20 which has, at one end, a male flange 21 and at the other end, a female flange 22. A subgirt ll is provided in spaced relationship to liner element 20 for the insertion of insulation therebetween.

One end of each exterior panel 23 is bent at 24a to form a female flange 24 and the other end is bent to form a male flange 29 adapted to interfit in an adjoining female flange 24 which is held in place against the subgirt ll by a clip 25 fastened to the subgirt by self tapping screws 26.

In operation, a first panel is attached to the girt l by self tapping screws 5 and then a second similar panel will be laid adjacent to it and slid sideways horizontally so as to cause interlocking of the male and female joints male and female elements) of both the liner and exterior panel. By virtue of the disposition of these joints, the panels are inherently resistant against outward force of a negative wind load.

In both the panels illustrated in FIGS. l and 2, the subgirt ll will perform the double duty of locking the liner element and exterior panel together while transferring the loads through a heavily reinforced area to the fastener and to the structural frame work. One subgirt will occur opposite each structural girt and between structural girts with a frequency as required for strength.

The units may be of any suitable size, such as 2, 3 or 4 feet, more or less. The various outer panels may be made of any suitable material such as aluminum, sheet steel, plastic, etc.

Thus it will be seen that l have provided an efficient, factory assembled, insulated wall panel construction wherein most of the asembly is done in the factory so as to assure greater accuracy and precision, and at the same time requiring less time for assembly in the field; furthermore, l have provided a stronger reinforced panel assembly by the provision of a subgirt having a guide channel through which a slide bar is slid to lock together adjoining panels so as to resist lateral movement or movement away from the building as the result of negative wind loads.

While I have described and illustrated several embodiments of my invention, it will be understood that these are by way of illustration only and that various changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A factory assembled, wall panel for interlocking with a similar adjoining wall panel, comprising a liner for attachment to the framework of a building or similar structure, a spaced subgirt cooperating therewith in confronting relationship to form a substantially rectangular closed channel, one end portion of said liner being flanged to form a female member and the other end being flanged to form a male member for attachment to complementary male and female members, respectively, of an adjoining panel, an exterior panel attached to and spaced outwardly from said subgirt and having one end portion which is flanged to provide a male member and the other end portion flanged to form a female member, said last mentioned male and female members being so positioned as to become detachably fastened to complementary female and male members, respectively, of an adjoining exterior panel as said male and female members of said liner become engaged and attached to those of an adjoining panel, said subgirt having a central, longitudinally extending channel portion formed in said spaced subgirt and terminating in coplanar wings which are parallel to said liner, the end portions of said wings being flanged inwardly towards and attached to said liner adjoining said first mentioned male and female members, closure elements cooperating with said chmnel portion of said subgirt to complete a rectangular enclosure, and a locking bar extending from an end of said rectangular enclosure of an adjoining panel into the end opening of said enclosure for interlocking said adjoining rectangular enclosures so as to prevent movement away from the building as a consequence of a negative wind load, the end portions of said subgirt being flanged so as to directly engage and reinforce said male and female membeta of said liner.

2. A building panel u recited in claim 1 wherein all of said male and female members extend parallel to said liner to that adjoining panels are attached together by the male and female members of both the liners and the exterior panels by movement thereof end-to-end in a direction parallel to said liners.

3. A building panel as recited in claim 1 together with a clip screw-threadedly attached to said aubgirt for engaging the outer portion of said female member of said exterior panel.

4. A building panel as recited in claim 1 wherein all of said male and female members of said liner extend at right angles to said liner, together with a clip screw threadedly attached to said subgirt and which partially envelopes the male member of said exterior panel.

l i i i l 

1. A factory assembled, wall panel for interlocking with a similar adjoining wall panel, comprising a liner for attachment to the framework of a building or similar structure, a spaced subgirt cooperating therewith in confronting relationship to form a substantially rectangular closed channel, one end portion of said liner being flanged to form a female member and the other end being flanged to form a male member for attachment to complementary male and female members, respectively, of an adjoining panel, an exterior panel attached to and spaced outwardly from said subgirt and having one end portion which is flanged to provide a male member and the other end portion flanged to form a female member, said last mentioned male and female members being so positioned as to become detachably fastened to complementary female and male members, respectively, of an adjoining exterior panel as said male and female members of said liner become engaged and attached to those of an adjoining panel, said subgirt having a central, longitudinally extending channel portion formed in said spaced subgirt and terminating in coplanar wings which are parallel to said liner, the end portions of said wings being flanged inwardly towards and attached to said liner adjoining said first mentioned male and female members, closure elements cooperating with said channel portion of said subgirt to complete a rectangular enclosure, and a locking bar extending from an end of said rectangular enclosure of an adjoining panel into the end opening of said enclosure for interlocking said adjoining rectangular enclosures so as to prevent movement away from the building as a consequence of a negative wind load, the end portions of said subgirt being flanged so as to directly engage and reinforce said male and female members of said liner.
 2. A building panel as recited in claim 1 wherein all of said male and female members extend parallel to said liner so that adjoining panels are attached together by the male and female members of both the liners and the exterior panels by movement thereof end-to-end in a direction parallel to said liners.
 3. A building panel as recited in claim 1 together with a clip screw-threadedly attached to said subgirt for engaging the outer portion of said female member of said exterior panel.
 4. A building panel as recited in claim 1 wherein all of said male and female members of said liner extend at right angles to said liner, together with a clip screw threadedly attached to said subgirt and which partially envelopes the male member of said exterior panel. 